Zack's Initiation
by Special K the Great
Summary: Before Angeal was Zack's mentor, Zack had to qualify for 3rd Class. The only thing in his way--about 150 lbs of girl capable of handing him his hind end on a stick. That weird Turk-guy didn't help things either. This chapter: First Day with Angeal
1. The SOLDIER Test and a Duel

First story i've done for FF7. I do not own any characters anyone recognizes. I only own one OC, who you will see in this chapter. Obivously this is AU.

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The SOLDIER Test and a Duel

_These guys think they're SOLDIER material? Pa-leeze,_ a cocky young man thought as he surveyed his competition. Most guys were either so dumb they couldn't tell the hilt from the blade on a sword and probably only found their way to the training center because of the guides. He would be willing to bet most of them were never in a real battle before either.

The door opened and most people stepped to attention. He didn't see what the big deal was though; it was just that girl that had been hanging around watching them take the SOLDIER exam earlier. She had to be the daughter of one of the examiners; why else would she be there? She was kind of pretty. Maybe he'd ask her out to lunch once this was over.

As she got closer, he noticed a gun almost half-as-long as she was tall holstered in a special harness on her hip. It looked as though it would dislocate her shoulder if she even tried to fire it. _She probably can't even pick it up,_ he smirked mentally.

She was definitely younger than him, maybe fifteen if he had to guess. She was bouncing around on what appeared to be knee-high leather boots on high heels, matched with a short, black skirt and a tight and midriff-baring red leather vest. An impressive amount of cleavage was visible. She was humming some ditty to herself and her lips were curled in an innocent smile, a contrast to her sluttish attire.

Her big brown eyes, glowing with flecks of emerald and ruby, looked around the room, studying each applicant. Her gaze settled on him, leaning on the wall.

"Heyya!" she said, white teeth showing through her lips. "So you're that guy with the disciplinary problem they told me about. Fair, right?" she stopped in front of him and looked at him curiously.

"Zack," he offered. "So what's a pretty little girl like you doing here? Don't you know there's lots of men that would hurt a poor thing like you?"

If anything, she smiled wider. "I'm okay," she answered.

"So what ya doin' with that?" he asked her, smirking and pointing at the gun. "Have you ever fired it?"

She nodded. "Lots of times," she answered, cracking a wad of bubble gum she had been chewing.

"Really?" Zack asked her, doubt and challenge in his voice.

"Yeah," she answered, her eyes narrowing in retort, chomping down extra hard on the pink, sticky candy. Clearly she was not use to being treated like anything other than the little plate-princess her dear mother and father had diluted her into thinking she was. Man, was she in for a wake up call. "You don't believe me?"

"Sorry, Princess," Zack said sarcastically. The girl's smile was gone now. "There's no way that you've ever fired that gun. You can't even lift it."

"Wanna bet?" she challenged, fire blazing in her eyes.

"Don't hurt yourself now," he teased her.

One of her hands went to her side and grapped the leather-covered stock. Without flinching or blinking, the girl un-holstered the gun and held it horizontally at eye-level with the same hand. That gun had to weigh a good fifty pounds, yet she held it like it only weighed two.

"Convinced?" she asked him.

Sure, her strength was a little impressive, but it didn't prove she was anything special.

Zack smirked at her, bored. "Nice trick. Your boobs real, too?"

All around him, the other people and instructors looked nervous and took several huge steps back. The girl was not amused by his little comment. Not at all.

"Think you're so all and mighty, do you?" she hissed. "Fine. If you're so good and stuff, fight me!" she took a fighting stance several feet back, her weight balanced on her back foot and the gun now pointed in his general direction, waiting for him to accept her challenge.

"I don't fight little girls," Zack said, giving her a patronizing smile.

"Good thing I'm not a little girl then," she shot back. "Come on. What 'cha got to loose? Tell ya what, you beat me, and I'll get you onto the Silver Squadron."

The Silver Squadron…that was one of the three highest-ranking squads in SOLDIER. The General Sephiroth was the captain of the regiment, and only the best of the best could get into it. It was made of entirely first-class SOLDIERs and very few could ever make it that high.

"Really now?" he asked. "All well, saves me lots of time," he smirked down at her.

"Pick your poison," she said, grinning ear to ear, glancing over to the wall of weaponry.

_Piece of cake_, he thought as he selected a short spear from the available choices. There was no sense in dulling a blade for this. He turned the spear in a circle several times in his hand to get a feel for it before turning back to her.

Most people had moved away from the two and given them plenty of room, scared for the young and foolish man. Did he want to die?

"Tell ya what, since I'm such a nice guy and everything, I'll let you have first hit," he smirked at her again.

"I f you insist," she called before firing off a quick shot.

It missed, but Zack had the feeling she had wanted it to. What was more surprising was she shot the gun, and the recoil hadn't dislocated her wrist or her shoulder. She was sending him a subtle message that she could handle that gun.

"Your turn," she smiled overly pleasantly, returning to her stance, shifting her weight from her back foot to her front foot again and again, ready to repeal his attack.

With a shout, he charged forward to slash her across her midsection…and he totally missed. She dodged to the side and to add insult to injury, she booted him across his buttocks as he fell past her, sending him crashing to the ground. The observing other hopeful SOLDIER candidates 'ugh-ed' in sympathy.

Cheeks burning red in embarrassment, Zack raised himself back to his feet with a grunt. He narrowed his eyes at her, smirking and basking in his folly. He gripped his spear in both hands and noted now was not the time to be a gentleman if she was going to spit in his face for it.

"Nice," she commented, "but were you trying to hit me? I couldn't tell."

"Show me what you got," he snapped at her.

"If you insist," she said before firing her gun at him, sending a bullet through his upper thigh…near an area that would be very not good for him if she hit it. He grunted with the pain as the bullet ripped through the other side of his leg, but tried not to let that beat him. After all, he knew she shot him there because she knew it would be more annoying and painful than life threatening.

"This is kind of boring," she sighed.

Feeling quite clever, Zack attacked as she yawned and closed her eyes for a brief moment. He swung the tip of his spear at her hand and knocked the gun out of her slacked grip, sending the behemoth of a firearm clattering to the ground.

Elated, he went to swing the spear around again and set the tip against her pulse point in her neck to bring the match to its close, but she had other ideas.

The smirk that was on his face was wiped off as he realized that she had moved faster than he could follow.

He had made one miscalculation when he accepted her invitation to fight. He hadn't known that she didn't need to be armed to hand him his rear end, so it really didn't matter that he had managed to disarm her.

As he stumbled forward trying to halt his momentum, a knee blasted into his abdomen and an elbow into the center of his spinal column, sending tingling sensations right to his toes and every nerve in his body.

He landed face first, curled into a ball to protect his probably bruised vital organs. Not that he would admit it, but that hurt! Maybe she wasn't just some girlly-girl plate-princess after all…

"Give up yet?"

"Never," he growled, flipping to his feet, his spear back in his hands.

Her smirk was absolutely evil as she said, "Suit yourself."

Before he was conscious of her movement, she growled at him as she jumped toward him and her knee connected quite painfully with his temple. Before he swooned to the ground his last thought was, _She has some nice taste in underwear…_

He was laid flat on his back, staring dazed up at the white ceiling of the training center. He felt a weight on his chest as one of his opponent's boots settled on top of him, like a hero of old who had just struck down their latest foe.

She sighed rather heavily as she said in a bored tone, "You're hopeless. Try again in a few years once you get your big-boy muscles."

Zack would have been insulted had his body not chosen that time to fall into unconsciousness.


	2. Congradulations

Hello Again. I still own nothing except a few OC's.

I am begging and pledding with anyone reading this to please let me know how i'm doing. I need somekind of feedback--negative or possitive, I'm not picky. I need to know what i can do to be a better writter. At worst, I will assume no one likes this if I don't hear something.

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Congradulations

"Hey! I think he's waking up!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. See for yourself."

Zack's eyes blinked slowly as the haze in his vision cleared. Almost directly above him was one of the SOLDIERs who had been administering the SOLDIER examines to the candidates. Another SOLDIER was sitting on the other side of his bed.

"You are either really brave or really stupid," the second chastised. "What where you thinking taking her on in a fight?"

"Ugh," Zack moaned. _Yeah, very intelligent, Fair,_ his mind laughed. "Where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary," the first SOLDIER answered. "Where'd you think?"

"What? Where's the girl? I ain't finished yet!" Zack said trying to get out of the bed. The SOLDIER pushed him back into a reclining position.

"Oh yeah you are," he stated flatly. "Do you have any idea what she did to you? She bruised your ribs and your back pretty bad, causing bruises the doctors think go all the way to the bone—it's amazing she didn't break a bone or more in your spine. Besides that, she split open your temple and the force made your brain bounce around your skull so bad you got knocked out. You probably have a concussion."

Well that would explain the nausea and killer headache. Zack decided that maybe it was a better idea to lay on the bed and lick his wounds so he was one hundred percent next time. "Who was she?" he asked aloud.

"You're joking," the sitting SOLDIER said flatly.

"No," Zack answered.

"You seriously don't know who she is?" the one hovering above his face asked in shock.

Zack was getting irritated. "Obviously not."

"That, my poor, stupid friend, was First-class SOLDIER Sam of the Silver Division, and protégé of the General Sephiroth."

"No way," Zack said. "It couldn't have been. I mean, that Sam person is a guy. And in case you didn't notice, that chick had boobs. Nice ones, too."

Both of the SOLDIERs shook their heads negative in amazement.

"No way," Zack breathed. This had to be some joke. There was no way that that girl could be one of the SOLDIERs almost as famous as Sephiroth. He was in so much trouble. For starters, he insulted a senior officer who had the ability to kill him in over thirty different methods and worked directly under Sephiroth, and then he challenged said officer into a fight. His life was over.

"Yes way," the first said with a laugh in his voice.

The door to the infirmary opened and into the room walked a smart looking woman in a lab coat with a pair of wire-framed glasses balanced on her nose. In her hand she held a clipboard.

The first thing to pass from Zack's lips was, "Hellllooo, nurse."

The woman giggled. "Hello to you too, Mr. Fair. I see you got into a fight."

"Yeah. You should see the other guy," Zack said smugly, omitting the part where he had been beaten. Clipped onto her coat was an identification card with the name 'Anne Brown' on it.

"I have, and she is quite well. Not a mark on her, actually," Anne smiled. Zack looked floored. _Just how fast does news travel around here?, _he mentally questioned. "She's a close friend of mine, you know. You're lucky she was just playing with you or she could have seriously harmed you. So, Mr. Fair, any other pains or concerns?"

Zack sulked on the bed with a pout taking over his features.

One of the SOLDIERs decided to be funny and said, "Um…I think I may have pulled a groin muscle. Do you think you could check it out for me?"

Anne laughed at that too and responded with, "I'll send Honre in to look at it."

"Never mind; I think it just healed itself. Thank Shiva for the accelerated rate of healing thanks to Mako." Obviously this 'Honre' was not very popular amongst the SOLDIERs.

"Oh," Anne said as if she only just thought of it, "congratulations on making it into the SOLDIER program. Sam was so impressed with you that she went right up to Sephiroth and said more or less, 'You get him into the program, or I'll irritate you so bad that Heideggar will seem tiny and insignificant in comparison.' She meant it, by the way."

Zack's brain had stopped working. "What?" he blinked.

"You made it into SOLDIER," Anne said with an indulging smile on her face. "It isn't very often that someone manages to disarm Sam, and you are one of the few who has."

"Did you just say I made it into SOLDIER?" he asked, his brain not working. He'd blame that SOLDIER chick—Sam—for his inability to think.

"Yes. Congratulations," Anne said again, turning and leaving the room. From behind the closed door, she could hear a great WHOOP!!! She had just made Zack's day.

"Newbies," a voice to her left sighed loudly at the sound of joy.

Anne turned to see Sam leaning against the hallway. The SOLDIER had changed from her earlier outfit into something more or less able to allow her to kick ss. Her short skirt was traded for a pair of grey cloth athletic pants, and her red leather top was exchanged for a black sports bar to keep her breasts from getting in the way. A pair of slim, black boxing boots replaced her stilettos. Her hands were wrapped in strips of cloth like a boxer as well. Gone from her side was her gun. Within point three seconds of seeing her best friend, Anne was able to deduce she had been at the gym, sharpening her skills at hand-to-hand.

"If anything," Anne started, "it's your fault."

"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "You're starting to sound like Sephy-rock."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Yes, only a lot."

Anne had to smile at her friend's sense of humor. If Sephiroth heard Sam refer to him like that, there was a good chance she would be the next person in the infirmary.

"Sephy-rock made a stipulation to get Zackie into the program," Sam said with a sigh. She clearly wasn't thrilled over Sephiroth's demand, but what could she do about it? She may have been one of the strongest SOLDIERs employed by the company, but Sephiroth was still stronger.

"And?" Anne asked.

"I'm the one that has to train him," Sam said, sticking her tongue out at the thought. "Bleh! It's a waste of my superb talents. I'm not supposed to train little brats! I'm supposed to put them back in their places when their heads grow abnormally large!"

"What a predicament," Anne sarcastically agreed.

The comment went right over Sam's head as she continued her rant. "I know, right? Oh, well. I am so going to enjoy torturing Fair for the next few years of his military career."

"You're horrible."

"I know. You love me for it."

"It's important that you believe that," Anne laughed as Sam stuck her tongue out at her. It was times like this that made her ashamed about the experiments she knew where being conducted on Sam by Hojo. No one outside the SPECIAL ARMS MASTERWORK project knew, but Sam had been created by Shin-ra, in labs in the science department. Sam herself had no idea of her origins, and Anne intended to keep it that way for a good while yet.

"I'm telling Genesis on you," Sam said childishly before skipping—yes, skipping—down the hall and out of sight.

Behind Anne, the door to the hospital room opened and she could hear Zack groan mutinously. "Way? Why?" he asked. "Isn't it enough she beat me the first time? Why do I have to go through the torture of having her as my trainer?" Obviously he had heard Sam's little announcement.

"Don't doubt her," Anne said. "She can be a little crazy at times, but she's a great SOLDIER. You'll learn a lot from her."

The young man groaned again before passing out in his bed. Too much mental exertion can do that to a guy.


	3. Training, Day 1

Still no reviews, but i will not be discouraged. I'm too stubborn and thick headed to be.

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Training, Day 1

Three days later found Zack in the special gym usually reserved for the SOLDIERs, 1st Class. It was very, very early in the morning, and the 1st Class SOLDIERs, being the semi-lazy bunch they were, were still in bed (for the most part). He stood in a coma-like haze brought on from lack of sleep.

"Okay, Zackie-boo," the amazingly conscious and cognizant SOLDIER said overly loudly as she smiled what he was sure was evilly at him. "As you already know, Sephy-rock has assigned me to be your mentor/trainer. I'm not any happier about this than you are. But as my pay raise is dependent on you qualifying for SOLDIER 3rd class, I have no choice."

"So let's get started!" She had to be a robot. Yes, that had to be it. No one else could be this functional at four flipping thirty in the morning!

"Essential information: Hojo creepy; Hollander less-creepy-than-Hojo, but-none-the-less-still-creepy; Turks scary; Reno annoying; Tseng not-fun-with-a-hangover; Rude silent; Heidegar fat; Palmer crazy-and-fat; Scarlet super-skank; President Shinra useless-for-anything-not-involving-signing-of-paychecks; Rufus-kun sneaky; Genesis devout-Loveless-fanboy; Angeal serious; Sephy-rock über-scary. Great! Now that that's out of the way, let's get started! You stay right here. I will be back in two minutes."

Sam walked away from him and entered the women's locker room (which was misleading since she was the only 1st class SOLDIER who was a woman; it should really be called 'Sam's locker room').

Zack sighed in relief and sunk to the floor. There was no way he'd be able to do anything she would demand of him. It was way too early in the morning.

Exactly two minutes later, Sam returned. Zack gaped as he saw her enter. Sam had exchanged her clothes for the standard issue pants of SOLDIER in the dark blue color reserved for 1st class. Her loose shirt was gone in favor of a tight, black sports bar. Instead of the heavy boots SOLDIERs typically wore, she was wearing a thin pair of shiny, black pleather boots worn most often by mixed-martial arts fighters. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail, but her bangs still hung framing her face.

What Zack was gapping at, however, was not her clothes.

"How do you have nicer abs than me?"

"These?" she asked, her knuckles rapping over the taunt muscles of her abdomen. (Zack was certain he heard the dull ring of steel.) "Don't worry. It you ever manage to get into Sephiroth's training program, and then survive it, you'll have abs almost as nice as mine."

"Gee, thanks," Zack monotoned.

"Alright, let's get down to business," she smiled brightly (evilly). She reached into her pocket as she said, "I got something for you, Zackie." From her pocket she pulled out a glowing red orb. His eyes widened as she asked, "You know what this is, don't you?"

"Materia," he answered in shock.

"Very good, Zackie," Sam said as if she were speaking to a small child or a dog. "Do you want the materia?"

"I want the materia," Zack answered, his eyes glassy as he reached for the glowing orb.

Sam smirked as she whipped the materia over Zack's spiky head. Zack turned to see it land on top of the strange pillar in the center of the gym that reached almost to the ceiling. He gaped and said, "What are you doing?"

Sam smiled sweetly. "The materia is yours, if you can get it that is."

"Fine," Zack said determinedly. He started walking over to the pillar.

"Wait a second," Sam stopped him.

Zack groaned, instinctively knowing that whatever she wanted now wasn't going to be good. "You need these," she said, pulling two giant medals seemingly out of nowhere. "They represent honor and discipline," she explained. "Both are required, so come and get them."

Rolling his eyes, Zack walked back to her and took the medals out of her hands, and almost immediately fell over. Each medal had to be at least thirty pounds. How was he supposed to climb the pillar with the medals at the same time?

"You can either get that materia or run fifty miles. That's about three hundred, eighty times up and down the stairs from the seventieth floor to the lobby, just so you know. Whatever happens first. When you're finish, we'll move on to step two. Ta," Sam said as she left him standing there with a shocked expression on his face. Whistling some jingle off of a commercial, Sam began her own routine of stretches. He gaped open mouthed at her in shock, but couldn't figure out how to voice his objections.


	4. In Which Genesis Makes a Funny

Heyya. Happy Holidays to everyone. Here's part 4.

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In Which Genesis Makes a Funny and Sam Complains ( a lot)

"The boy can run, I'll give him that."

"How long did it take Sam to solve your little riddle? Seven minutes?" asked the one dressed in red rhetorically. He sat perched on the other's desk. In one hand he had a book with the title "LOVELESS" on the cover. He held it cocked like he had been reading it, but momentarily looked away. Running by the glass door to stairwell was the cadet their college had 'taken under her wing.'

"To the second," the other answered from his comfortable reclining chair.

"I'll give the boy another week before he collapses," he remarked as he glanced back to his precious book.

"I'll give him eleven more minutes," declared the cold one with a half-smirk. He didn't really do smiles. Smiles were for lesser mortals.

"What are you two plotting now?" asked a third man as he entered the office. Unlike the other two who wore trench coats made out of black and red leather, he was following the dress code and wearing a 1st Class Uniform. A gigantic sword he never used was strapped onto his back. That gigantic sword soon joined the other two men's swords leaning on the wall.

"Oh, Angeal, what a pleasant surprise. We just were watching Sam's newest toy. He's quite cute. It's hilarious to watch him run laps," answered the one with the book. This was Genesis. "It looks like he's going to trip over his own feet any moment."

Sephiroth offered his other best friend a luke-warm half-smile (it was the warmest he was capable of giving). "This is day six," he informed.

"Didn't anyone tell him the trick to it yet?"

"And ruin the entertainment? Nothing has been this hilarious since Tseng's pet delinquent stole Palmer's lard," Genesis scoffed. Oh what a day that had been…what a waste of valuable gil and time…

"You're horrible, Genesis," Angeal gave a long-suffering sigh. Angeal preferred not the remember that day. It was a miracle he hadn't suffered a heart attack from the massive amounts of stress his friends and his friends' friends put him through.

"I'm not horrible; Reno is horrible. Besides, you know you love it."

"You're sending too much time with Sam," Sephiroth remarked. "Stop it."

"I've been in here for a whole three minutes and you haven't quoted LOVELESS once. Are you feeling alright, Genesis?" Angeal teased good-naturedly.

Genesis gave a round of very fake laughter and sneered. However, before he could respond verbally to his two best friends' teasing, the door opened a second time and in walked the only other person in SOLDIER with access to the office—Sam.

"Heyya!" she called as she bounced in. "Were one of you like talking about me or something 'cause my ears were ringing and stuff. Not that that means I want you to stop or anything," she babbled.

Just like Genesis and Sephiroth, Sam had a disinclination to wear her uniform. If she did it was only because she didn't have any new clothes to wear. (A few years back she and Sephiroth had the misfortune to discover that their laundry went through the labs when they sent it out, and who knew what the labbies did to their poor, unsuspecting clothing. In the interest of self-preservation, she would not wear anything more than once.) Currently she was prancing around in a pair of the sweatpants sold in the Shinra gifts store on the third level of the lobby. They were solid black with 'SOLDIER' going down one leg in white. By her hip was the SOLDIER insignia. Paired with the sweatpants was a white tang top with the thinnest straps possible. They strained more than a little bit with her ample chest…Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal all worked really hard not to noticed that particular part of their "little sister."

Her gun was once again absent. Sephiroth made a mental note to have a long discussion with her about that. After all, who know what could happen to someone like her in Midgar. There were hundreds of teenaged males with uncontrolled libidos just roaming the streets. How was Sam supposed to protect herself if she didn't carry her gunblade? He couldn't follow her every moment of the day to be sure nothing happened to her since none of those little miscreants could be trusted (and he'd make whoever did something to her wish they had never been spawned if something did happen to Sam).

"So what'cha doing?" she asked. The smile on her face was wide and mischievous. She had something planned.

"Watching your newest recruit," Genesis supplied, turning a page of his book. "You just missed him run by."

"He's running? You mean he still hasn't figured it out? Ugh! Guys are such idiots," Sam bemoaned, but added, "except you guys," when she noticed their glowers and raised eyebrows. "I mean the newbies get dumber every year. Sephiroth, it's all your fault."

"I fail to see how."

She rolled her eyes. Flippantly she replied, "Because they all have this stupid idea that they're gonna come and fight along side of you or something. Geeze. Can you say naïve much?"

"Is there something you needed, Sam?" Angeal asked calmly. If she wasn't firmly guided to the point, Sam would babble endlessly. She loved to hear herself talk almost as much as Genesis did.

"So I'm not just allowed to come and visit you guys anymore, is that it?" she accused. She did a remarkable job at pretending to be highly upset. It never failed, ever. Even Sephiroth got the strange desire to disembowel whatever was making her upset when she behaved this way. All she had to do was let her eyes tear up and tremble her lower lip, and she had both Sephiroth and Genesis hook, line, and sinker. For an added touch she gave a little whine like a pitiful, kicked dog that broke Angeal's legendary reserve.

"Of course you can visit us," Genesis pacified. "We just want to know if we can help you with something." He sent his book down and patted the space on the desk next to him in invitation.

Sam brightened instantly, reminding Angeal of just how young she was. She skipped across the room and perched beside the older man. He ruffled her slightly messy hair and she punched his arm in response, as well as sticking her tongue out at him.

"Owe," Genesis said flatly before laughing at her. Angeal sighed helplessly. She and Genesis would be picking at each other for the next hour or so. Even Sephiroth had to chuckle at their display of immaturity.


	5. I got the materia, so niner niner niner

**I got the materia, so niner niner niner**

_Owe! Owe! Owe! Stupid cramps,_ Zack thought as he tried to battle through the pain in his thigh.

He had been running laps (that was the easiest way to describe what he was being forced to do) for the past week, and he felt it in every muscle of his body, even those he had previously been unaware of. So far he still had over eighty laps left before he made it to the fifty mile mark Sam had set. After he made it to the twenty-five mile mark he had given up on trying to figure out how to get the materia she had tossed onto that pillar. It had looked hard to climb before because of how smooth it was, but the added sixty pounds from those medals would just make climbing it impossible. No sense in wasting time trying to.

At the same time as Zack was running up the stairs, someone else was making their way down them. Zack was so focused on his task that he didn't notice until he plowed at full speed into the other person, sending both of them tumbling down at least nine steps.

The SOLDIER recruit and the other person bounced down the stairs in a tangle of limbs, groaning and yelping all the way. The important and official-looking papers the other person had been carrying down lay scattered in chaos all over the stairwell.

Zack, as soon as the ceiling stopped spinning, jumped to his feet ready to yell at whoever got in his way when he realized that he recognized the person. It was the woman that had told him he made it into the SOLDIER program.

"Umm, Anne Brown?" he asked in confusion. Shouldn't her identification card have an elevator pass on it or something?

Anne was whimpering as she saw the state of her papers and muttered, "Hojo's going to kill me!" She looked flustered and completely overwhelmed. She didn't even seem to realize that Zack was there at all.

"I'm sorry!" Zack said emphatically as he tried to help her up.

She finally looked at him and blinked as if surprised that he was there. "It's okay," she said sounding as if her soul had died.

"But I'm really sorry! Here, let me help you," he continued, bending down to start gathering the papers. The first one he picked up seemed to be a cover page or something with the text 'Project SPECIAL ARMS MASTERY' typed in the center of the page.

"No!" she shouted, grabbing his arm. "Those are classified! You can't see them!" She grabbed the paper from his hands and hid it behind her back.

Zack was immediately made curious as to what Anne was hiding, but Sam had warned him not to ask the "labbies" too many questions…especially if he wasn't certain he really wanted to know the answer. Instead he asked, "Why are you taking the stairs? I haven't seen anyone else in here before."

"Hojo took my key card to the elevator," she answered. "Why are you still running? Didn't you get the materia yet?"

"Does everybody freaking know about it?"

Anne blinked again at his outburst. "Sephiroth did that to Sam when she started her training. I'm surprised you didn't already hear the story about how she got it, but then again, not all SOLDIERs possess reasoning skills as heightened as hers are."

Zack wondered vaguely if he should be insulted. "So you know how to get it?"

She nodded. "If I tell you, you don't tell anyone you saw me, understand?"

Zack nodded vigorously. "Fine. Just tell me how to get the stupid materia."

Anne had a mysterious smile on her face as she leaned in and whispered the secret into Zack's ear.

"That's it?! Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"No way!"

"Yes. Now go get that materia before Sam comes along."

"Aye aye!" Zack shouted before turning around and running down the stairs to the floor the gym was located one.

Anne stood among the mess of papers and sighed heavily. Hojo might kill her for messing up the papers and Sam might be annoyed at her for telling Zack the secret, but at least she brightened someone's day.

Zack couldn't believe the answer was that easy and couldn't see how he hadn't seen it before. If asked later though, he'd claim he had came up with the solution all by himself. It was so simple! To get the materia all he had to do was twist the medals together by their cords and use them to shimmy up the pillar. He could have sworn he saw a movie like that when he was younger. Julan…Kulan…Lulan…it was something like that.

Twenty minutes later Sam received a call on her phone. Officially she was off duty, so she was tempted to just ignore it. But something made her answer her PHS anyway.

"Yeah?" she demanded without bothering to check her caller ID. Anyone worth actually speaking to (meaning any of the higher-ups) knew better than to call her when she had a day off, and anyone she actually cared about (Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, and Anne) knew better then to call while she was shopping. Besides, if someone important was calling, a different ringtone according to who it was would have played instead of "Drop the Bombshell."

"Hey!" came Zack's voice filled with self-satisfaction. She rolled her eyes. She should have guessed that only the idiot she was stuck mentoring would be stupid enough to call her now. "I did it!" he practically shouted into her ear.

"So you're the scoundrel, huh?" she immediately responded as pre-conditioned to by SOLDIER training. "Wait…what did you do?"

"I got the materia, so niner niner niner!"

Sam could fell the vein in her forehead throb. How dare the little upstart mock her. "Oh really? Then I guess you're ready to move on to Step II," she responded sweetly with something akin to the promise of pain in her voice. "Tomorrow morning we will begin. Be at the gym at four-thirty A.M., and not a minute later. Your carcass will be mine until you qualify for 3rd Class. Welcome to the rest of your career in SOLDIER."

Zack got the feeling deep in his gut that now was the time to be afraid.


	6. Enter Reno

Reviews help me write faster. (I've sunk this low).

**Enter Reno**

"Miss Brown, where is my specimen?" the sharp voice of her boss snapped as he appeared seemingly out of thin air at the other side of her desk.

"She has a name," she muttered angrily. She resented the fact that her boss dehumanized the people he used in his experiments by referring to them as "specimens."

"What was that?" the head of the Science Department demanded.

"She's on her way," she said loader.

"I want the specimen here within five minutes. The test has been put off long enough," Hojo announced. He turned and walked into his private office, chuckling darkly to himself as he did so, the creep.

Anne sighed helplessly. She had stalled as long as she could to protect her friend from the test Hojo had wanted to perform on her by re-elevating her already high mako-levels, thus putting her at risk of total system shock, which would leave her in a coma she would never wake from. It was a senseless endangerment of a human being with individual thoughts and feelings. So far, Anne had "accidentally" damaged some important equipment, "misplaced" the vial of "super mako" for the experiment, and "lost" Sam's file. Now Anne was out of excuses.

"Ya know, it funny that I can get into any office I wanna, hack any damn computer I wanna, and break anyone I wanna, but I can't get my hands on the one damn thing I really want, yo," a sly and cynical voice sneered from behind her, startling her. Leaning against the cabinets lining the wall was a lanky young man in a black suit with the reddest hair imaginable. Bright blue eyes watched her from behind a mass of spiky bangs. This man was one of the most dangerous men under the employment of Shinra. He made more money in a year than most people would ever see in their lives doing things no one could even imagine could be done to another human, and he enjoyed it.

"Will you stop doing that?" she gasped. Goddess only knew how he snuck in…again. No, he was a Turk. The Goddess didn't even know.

"Doing what?" he asked faux-ignorantly. He knew what she really meant.

"What are you doing here?" This was just terrific. She had now less than four minutes to convince Sam to get here, and now he had to show up. He was the last person she wanted to deal with.

"I hear Sam's up for another play-date, yo," he answered. He cracked his knuckle and grinned, showing even white teeth.

She didn't bother to ask how he knew. He probably had all the major departments bugged. In fact, it wouldn't be surprise her if he did; she'd be more surprised if he didn't. "What do you want?"

"You know what I want."

"You know I can't give you that, Reno."

"Figured you'd say that, yo. That's okay. I got all night to tare apart your stuff, and thrust me, there ain't a lock you got I can't pop," he smirked, licking his lips.

"It's a waste of your time."

"Yeah, but it'd be funny to watch you clean the mess up, " Reno smirked. He chuckled before saying, "And I can make some pretty big messes, yo. You should see what I did to this guy last night. He didn't think a body's got enough intestine to…well, I won't bore ya, yo."

Anne whimpered on the inside. Why did all the men in her life feel the need to threaten her to get what they wanted? Why couldn't anyone just ask nicely? Well, Reno was he last chance of buying some more time, and judging by the self-satisfied look on the manipulative bastard's face, he knew it too.

"Fine," she agreed.

Reno's smirk got wider. "Pleasure doin' business, yo."

The Turk turned and swaggered out of the little office Anne was stuffed into. Through the glass walls she watched as Reno approached a panel on the wall full on little switches and as he vicariously started flipping switches. Then he dropped to his knees and pulled a plug from the wall. When he stood back up he winked at her as he dusted off the non-existent dust from his knees. He did the same thing to another machine before coming back to her office.

"That should buy ya 'bout four hours 'for he checks the power," he said smugly.

It was amazing how well Reno knew _everyone_. He knew exactly what to say or do to get anyone to do his biding. It was part of what made him so valuable, otherwise he would have been disposed of ages ago. Hojo was too proud to think that something as trivial as an unplugged socket could sabotage his experiments.

"Tseng will call Sam's phone in about five minutes with orders for a mission that needs some muscle. Make sure she excepts and you got at least four days with her on another continent, yo," Reno informed slyly. "Drop the package off in my office by six. I got plans for later."

"Reno," Anne called before he could disappear. "Thanks."

"I didn't do nothing for you, yo," he called back as he vanished around a corner. "By the way, tell Sam she looks hot in that little leather mini. Sizzlin', yo."

Anne sighed. At least she wouldn't have to worry about how Sam's system would handle the experiment for a few more days. Hojo would be unbearable, but it would be worth it. Having Reno around could, at times, be beneficial. He could always be counted on to ruin the "good" doctor's plots involving Sam, especially since Reno had decided that Sam was "his girl," never mind what she had to say on the subject (it usually involved long rants about conceited jerks). Anne never thought she would ever say this, but thank Shiva for stalker-Turks.

Reno might be harboring a delusion he called "love" for Sam, or, then again, he might just be messing with her. To be honest, Anne wasn't sure _she_ wanted to know (it was probably safer that she didn't), but she did know she didn't want to know why Reno wanted the dress Sam wore to the last banquet hosted by Shinra.


	7. Zack, meet Reno Reno, play nice

**Zack, meet Reno. Reno, play nice**

Zack was confused. He didn't like being confused.

Sam told him to be in the gym be four-thirty. Well, he was there, but she wasn't. She hadn't been late before, so why wasn't she there? Someone else was there though. He was leaning against the pillar Sam had tossed the materia onto, a lit cigarette pinched between his lips. On the wall beside the door across the gym was a sign that said quite clearly, "No Smoking. Thank You."

"You Fair, yo?"

"Yeah. Who are you?"

The guy couldn't have been any older than Zack but his waist was probably no thicker than Zack's thigh. He had the look about him that he had been under-feed his whole life. The pants the other guy was wearing were sliding off his hips. There was no way this guy was a SOLDIER, so why was he in the SOLDIER gym?

"Your babysitter," he smirked back. He had hair even more unruly than Zack's, and it was so obviously dyed. No one could have hair that red.

"Where's Sam?"

"She ain't here, yo," he snickered as he let loose a stream of the cigarette's miasma. The guy's eyes were even smirking at him.

By all the Knights of the Round! This guy was really getting on Zack's nerves. "Yeah, I figured that. Why isn't she here?" he asked, feeling superior in his proper use of grammar.

"She's a little busy right now, and you don't need to know, yo," he answered. "Mean time, how 'bout you n' me get cozy n' I show ya why ya got your ass kicked in? She ain't let ya off da leash yet, has she, yo?" he continued, his accent getting thicker. He was obviously a natural-born slum piece of trash. He stuffed out the cigarette on the bottom of the boots he was wearing and dropped the useless filter onto the pristine floor.

Zack's jaw dropped. This guy—whoever he was—was awful cocky, and their massive egos clashed. "Who are you?" he demanded again, reacting to the male like a dog did to a rival male.

"Me?" the guy grinned like he was assumed by Zack, showing off too perfect teeth. For a slum piece of trash, his teeth were awful white and even. Someone spent a good amount of gil shining them up then. "I'm da man that'll put ya in your place, yo. I'm startin' ta think Doll-face shoulda got ya a muzzle or somethin' to go with da choke chain."

"You're real damn mouthy!" Zack growled as he crossed his arms and glowered at the smaller figure.

The other male just snickered. "Like I ain't heard dat one before. Trust me, yo. You ain't seen nothin' yet."

"How about you back up what you're saying?" Zack challenged.

"I can take anythin' ya got to dish out, yo. How 'bout you? Com' on and show me what ya got."

"Why not? I haven't cut loose in a while anyway," Zack remarked as he rolled his shoulders. If this guy decided to mess with him than so be it. He was clearly not a SOLDIER, and he had no busy messing with someone like Zack.

"Yeah! I've been lookin' for some fun, yo," he answered as he slinked away from the pillar. Zack wasn't paying attention to his feet, but everyone of the other guy's steps were sure and firm. His posture was relaxed and lazy, but he was alert to everyone one of Zack's movements. "Da name's Reno."

"Good. Now I'll be able to give your name over to the EMTs," Zack goaded.

"As if, yo," Reno snorted. "Stupid, damn back-water hicks. Thinkin' you can beat me. Huh. I been fightin' since 'fore you were let outta mommy's sight, yo. No chance."

He stopped a few feet from Zack. "What ya waitin' for? I'm right here."

Smirking, Zack began his first attack. He went to give a solid punch to Reno's jaw so he would shut up, but Reno wasn't where he thought he was. The slum piece of trash was smirking at him from a few inches to the side, and he kept smirking as he dropped down to a sweeping forward kick, bringing Zack down to the ground.

"Lesson the first," Reno drawled, "Use what ya got. Little guys got speed. Big guys got muscle. Too bad das useless if ya can't catch 'em."

Zack's checks flushed.

"What ya waiting for? Get up, yo. I don't got all damn day. I got a meetin' five minutes ago that Dot-man's already gonna kill me for."

Jaw set with determination, Zack flipped up to his feet. He barely had time to get into a stance before Reno was on him again. He caught a left hook that left him stumbling.

"Lesson two. Protect your damn head," Reno snarled before going to knee Zack in the gut. Zack caught Reno's skinny leg and twisted, overpowering the lean red head and sending him toppling, but that did nothing to neutralize his threat. As Reno dropped, his other leg swung up and clopped Zack on the back of his head, thus bringing him down as well.

Dazed, Zack didn't realize what was happening until Reno was yanking his arms backward out of their sockets with one of his boots pushing forward on his back. "Lesson number three," he drawled. "Learn when to say, 'uncle,' yo."

Zack groaned in agony and tried to battle out of the maneuver. He finally managed to dislodge Reno's boot from his back by twisted around, but he could feel the strain in his arms. Reno smirked at him with even more pleasure than Sam took from his suffering. He never thought he'd meet another individual who took such pleasure from his pain.

"You're cute. I can see why she keeps you around. Don't get no ideas 'bout her, ya got it? She's mine, yo," Reno warned without changing his expression.

"Like I'd ever want her!" Zack shouted.

"I'd watch it if I were you, but I'm not you, thank Shiva. It wouldn't be half as much fun to do this if I were, yo," the other answered back before attacking once more. He was almost as fast as Sam had been, and she was a SOLDIER! There was no way this guy should be this fast. Zack was loosing track of him right in front of him! He was lucky if he managed to block one in three of Reno's attacks. The other man tended to use a lot of attacks with his legs that were quick and pin pointed to areas that would crippled combatants. Clearly he had some kind of formal training when it came to fighting, but when Zack managed to counter, he always had some slippery way of avoiding being hit. Weird. He fought like he was a professional, but with all the ingenuity of a street-fighter.

Finally Zack caught Reno's hand and pulled him in to grapple him, and that was when Reno bashed his skull into Zack's forehead. For a moment Zack saw stars as his brain was once again jarred around his head, and that moment was long enough for Reno to slip out of his lax grip. Zack didn't know what hit him until the other gave a quick chop to the back of his neck. His entire body went limp as he went unconscious, thus ending their little match.

"Stupid, damn back-water hicks," Reno grumbled again as he fished a cigarette out of the pack he had stashed in his gym bag he had left by the door. As he lit it, he continued muttering, "See, I told you so, yo."

That was when his PHS choose to ring. He was tempted to ignore it, but picked it up anyway. "Yo," he answered.

"Where are you?"

"Geeze. Hold your chocobos, yo. Just playin' with Sam's new pet in the playground. Bein' nice and sharin' my toys and everythin', Boss," he answered grinning, enjoying the sound of the sigh from his boss—a sure-fire sign that the other man was getting a head ache. "Don't worry 'bout 'im now. He won't bother us."

"Good. Now get to the helipad. I have an assignment for you."

When Zack woke up several hours later he found himself back in the barrack he had been stuffed into with a note taped onto his chest with "You have been pwned by Reno of Turks. Have a nice day," scrawled on it with a black marker. His first thought was, _What the hell is a Turk?_

* * *

Please give me some inspriation! Please, please, please?


	8. In Which Zack Learns What a Marlboro Is

Hello again. Sorry it's been so long. I've been cramming for my finals. Guh! I hate finals. Anyway...here is the next instalment in the peice.

Please, please give me some feedback 'cause i'm starting to hit the dreaded Writer's Block, and that's a real bad thing. I am now begging.

* * *

**In Which Zack Learns What a Marlboro Is...and Those Turk Dudes Too**

A week later Sam finally returned.

She strode into the gym with a not-happy look on her face. Her right arm was bond in a sling across her chest. Obviously this was the source of her displeasure. She scowled at Zack as she entered the room.

"What happened to you?" Zack asked as he continued his routine of squats.

She turned and glared at him. "Have you ever been mauled by a Marlboro?"

Zack blinked. "What's a Marlboro?" he asked innocently.

Sam rolled her eyes and muttered, "Country-brats." Louder she said, "Than you cannot possibly understand what happened to me while I was forced to go strolling through some abandoned caves filled with more monsters than you can imagine accompanied by only a few air-head army recruits and a stupid Turky."

"Isn't a Marlboro like a cigarette? You got mauled by a cigarette?"

"No! They are nothing like a cigarette, you idiot!"

"Couldn't you just cast a Cure on yourself or something? Take a potion?"

"Gee, Zack, neither I nor the entirety of the Science Department had thought of that! What would we ever do without you?" Sam snapped sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "Only one teeny tiny little problem—this particular Marlboro's already fowl breath had a new form of bacteria resistant to healing magic or something, meaning I have to suffer through this au natural."

Zack winced a little bit at the scathing tone of her voice.

"Obviously I cannot kick your ass today," she frowned un-happily, but Zack got the impression this was going to be worse for him than it is for her. He was right. "Instead, how about we take a little field trip down to the V.R. room and introduce you to a Marlboro. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Zack felt his soul die a little.

Half and hour later Zack was standing inside the V.R. room with a weird visor covering his eyes. He could see Sam smirking from the other side of the glass wall separating them as she pressed a few buttons.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"Relax. You're no fun. Besides, if the Science Department didn't want me to play in here then they would have made the password harder to hack. Come on! Who uses passwords anyway these days? Besides, I'd have the security clearance anyway."

Zack felt that somehow her logic was a little flawed.

"And don't worry. If you get KO'd, then the program will just shut itself off and return you to reality, but I gotta warn you you'll be feeling it tomorrow. So don't let yourself get killed too badly!" He definitely didn't like the sound of that.

"Ta ta!" Sam grinned before pressing one more button and thus started the program.

Suddenly the room faded away and Zack found himself in a cool, dark cave. Shining crystal formations decorated the floor and the ceiling and fine sand served as the ground beneath his feet. He could hear the sound of running water from somewhere close by. That was when he saw IT.

It was a giant flower-thing taller than most of the houses back in Gongaga. But that didn't make any sense. Why would there be a giant flower in a cave of all places? Flowers needed sunlight, and there was obviously no sunlight…only this really weird light that seemed to generate from the crystals…

Then the flower-thing moved and a wide maul faced him…

Back in the V.R. room Sam was laughing hysterically as Zack's arms flailed around helplessly. The Marlboro had obviously found him. Ah, justice.

"I thought I'd find you here, yo."

She rolled her eyes as she heard the voice. "What do you want?"

"Just thought I'd see ya. Heard ya got beat, so wanted to see if you're okay or something," the man answered with a shrug.

"What do you really want, Reno?" Sam asked. If the damned Turk wasn't so amusing she would have gotten Angeal or Genesis to get rid of him for her ages ago, but she deep-down liked the attention Reno gave her. It was nice not to be treated like a freak or like a little girl. But she'd never admit to actually enjoying Reno's company! No, she'd rather eviscerate herself on the Masamune.

"Nothin'," he said again with a shrug. He wasn't wearing his usual black suit. So why was he at the Shinra building if he wasn't on duty today? "So how's the kiddo?"

"Kiddo?"

Reno jerked his head in the direction of Zack, who was swinging his arms around like he was using a sword. Really, people looked just plain ridiculous using this version of the V.R. Maybe if she got Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth in here again they would once more destroy yet another valuable piece of expensive technology.

"Oh, him. He's amusing. He's learning about Marlboros today," Sam explained cheerfully.

"Man, what he do to piss you off, yo?" Reno joked half-seriously. "You busy later?"

"Actually, yeah. Stupid science geeks want to check out my arm and then it's movie night at Genesis' apartment," Sam answered as she tossed her hair. "We're watching that new movie the guy who did the movie-version of LOVELESS is in. Looks like it could be awesome…then again it could suck."

She could have sworn he snarled, "Damn!" under his breath, but she couldn't be sure.

"Looks like Kiddo just got rejected," Reno observed before leaving. Man he hated being turned down by the SOLDIER, but there was just something about her, and Reno as a rule did not give up.

Sam turned to see that Reno was right; Zack was lying in an unconscious pile on the floor and a light on the monitor was blinking a thoroughly annoying shade of pruce. Whoever picked out the colors for the indicators needed to get shot…badly.

Hours later Zack finally escaped from Sam's grasp when she had to go down to the infirmary to get her arm checked out again. With almost every muscle aching, he dragged himself to the cafeteria. He practically collapsed onto the bench at one of the tables and let his head fall down onto the table, ready to just die.

"Hey! Zack! How you been?" called someone as they neared.

Zack looked up just as another young man plopped onto the bench across the table from him. "Huh? Oh, hey Kunsel. I'm good." The other guy was one of the people who took the SOLDIER test with Zack, but unlike the other people, Kunsel did know how to actually wield a sword. Unfortunately for Kunsel (or maybe fortunately) only a few "lucky" recruits earned a mentor.

"Yeah? How's the training thing? The normal classes are so boring."

"I would kill for boring right about now," Zack muttered and sighed.

"What's she making you do?"

"She took me down to the V.R. room and sicked this really weird, huge flower-thing on me. It killed me, man."

"That sucks, man," Kunsel winced appropriately. "Do you think she'll let you go out for the night? A bunch of guys are going out to this club—"

"Not a chance," Zack groaned. "She says I'm not going to see daylight again until I qualify for SOLDIER 3rd, or 'Sephy-rock gets the mega-stick removed,'" he explained, even using air-quotes, "whatever happens first."

"Ah."

Zack suddenly remembered that Kunsel (from the few times they had spoken) seemed to know almost everything about anything. Something had been bothering Zack for a little while. The day Sam had left on her mission, another guy had come into the gym and more or less made Zack wish he had just stayed in bed. Reno! That was his name!

"Hey, um, do you know anything about Turks?" he asked Kunsel.

"Why would you want to know anything about them?" Kunsel asked too fast.

"Just wondering man."

"Oh," Kunsel remarked. "Look, man, just keep away from those guys, okay? Trust me. You see one of them coming, you turn and go the other way, got it?"

"Why?" Zack asked. "What's so bad about them."

"Let's just say that a lot of people who deal with them turn up missing…or dead. They're dangerous, man. They take care of all the dirty stuff—assassinations, kidnapping, mafia-type stuff—the President doesn't trust SOLDIER with, and they're good at it. Officially their title is the Investigation Department of General Affairs, but that's just a cover."

"Oh, thanks for that," Zack answered. So that guy who kicked his ass was basically a professional murderer. Just great. As if he didn't have enough problems with the psycho-super Barbie…


	9. The Next Great Torture

I am on a roll. Go me. I was going to wait until tomorrow...oh, wait. It is tomorrow in the East Coast of the US. Darn. I really should be in bed by now. Anyway, I want to thank someone special for some incourging words. They know who they are.

**The Next Great Torture**

Roughly two months would pass before anything "exciting" happened again. Those two months passed with unremarkable-ness. Sam, of course had made Zack sorry he was ever born, but he was this much closer to his goal do to the in-valuable training she was putting him through. ("This much closer" meaning it now took Sam fifteen seconds to make him scream "UNCLE!" rather than seven.)

Sam entered the training room with a scowl on her normally very pretty face. She seemed to be gnashing her teeth together and her arms and shoulders were very tense. Zack, knowing that it was not a good thing if Sam looked like that, winced as soon as he saw her. That sinking feeling of utter hopelessness was building in his abdomen. He wondered vaguely if he'd make it through this fit with nothing worse than a concussion.

"Stupid, stupid, self-absorbed, show-off-y idiot!" Sam grumbled angrily.

"Uh, what are you talking about?" Zack asked, still going through his new work out routine of squats. Sam had mentioned off hand one day that squats were what gave her those abs, and Zack really wanted those abs…

"The President has decided he wants to have a company banquet/ball-thinger!" She almost snarled. "I hate wearing dresses! They are evil and must die!"

Zack blinked as Sam continued to rant about the evil of dresses and stamp her feet as she threw her tantrum much like a four-year-old child.

"If Sephiroth suddenly snapped and ran the President through on Masamune, I wouldn't be sorry! Actually…that's not a half-bad idea. Hey, Zack, how much do you think I'd have to pay Sephy-rock to do away with the Big One?"

"More than you have," Zack answered, still doing his squats. _Think about the abs, Zack,_ he told himself. _Think about the abs._ The squats were getting quite repetitive, and his thighs and stomach were starting to really ache, but it would be worth it when you could wash clothes off his midsection.

Sam suddenly grinned her evilest little smile once more. "You know, Zack. I just realized that I never actually introduced the important people to you. It's my right to be able to force them to pretend to be polite. I should have done this ages ago. I have decided that you shall be my escort."

Zack's jaw dropped and he halted his movement with the full intent of protesting her decision, but Sam would have none of that. As she was so fond of reminding him, this was not a democracy. This was a Samocracy. What Sam says, goes. There was no such thing as free-will.

"The dress code is formal. That means a full Tux. Don't you dare make me look bad. You don't want to know what I'll do to you if you do.

"Come on, Sam!" Zack pleaded. "Be reasonable!"

"Oh, I am," she giggled (extra evily). "And you are expected to dance. Note: I will harm you very much if you ruin my shoes."

"Did I somehow wrong you in a past life or something?" he asked half-serious.

"And I hope you like caviar and sushi. That's probably what will be forced down our throats as appetizers. If you do not eat, then that is an insult to the President's table, and I will therefore have to hurt you. One last thing; Seph, Gen-Gen, and Angeal will be there, so try not to embarrass me for Ifrit's sake. I will not save you if you piss off Sephy-rock."

Zack groaned. This was going to suck. This was going to suck a lot.

Three hours later Zack was being held hostage in Sam's rather luxurious apartment on the fiftieth floor reserved for the important members of SOLDIER. He tugged at the bow-tie Sam had forced on him and squirmed on the high-end leather-couth in the massive living room (this room alone could probably house the entirety of the barrack Zack was forced to stay in; man, he could not wait till he had this kind of money).

"Are you done yet?" he called down the hall.

"Hold your freaking chocobos!" Sam yelled back. She had spent the better part of an hour going through her closets looking through them for the perfect dress. (By the way, who really needed seven closets the size of an average room filled with clothes that had yet to be worn?)

Out of nowhere Sam appeared in the archway leading to the hallway wearing only a black silk robe decorated by golden dragons. "All right, I need your honest opinion. This dress, or this dress?"

Sam held up two different dresses as she asked. One was long, slim, and deep, rich red made from what looked like silk. Up the sides of the lower half of the dress were long slits halting mid-thigh. Along the left side of the dress was a black flame pattern. Around the high waist of the dress was a black sash that tied in the back in a huge bow. The other dress held in her left hand was black and knee-length. The sleeves were long and wide, though. Around the waist was a white sash that tied as well in the back with a bow even bigger than on the red dress. All over this dress were patches of white lotus flowers.

Zack mentally imagined Sam in both dresses before motioning to the red one.

Sam disappeared back into her room to change. About half and hour later she came back up with all of her make-up done elegantly and her hair pinned in two ornate hair-sticks. She was balanced on very-strappy two-and-a-half inch heels in black. The red dress clung to her curves like a second skin. She was, in a word, lovely. If it wasn't for all the toned muscle she could almost be mistaken for a real girl.

Zack felt his mouth drop. As soon as he was capable of speech, he taunted, "Trying to impress someone?"

"Shut up," Sam ordered as she gave him the Death Glare. That glare had been known to make Rufus—the cold-hearted son of the President—uneasy. "I have to make up for your ugly mug, you know."

Zack pouted and let his bangs fall into his eyes as he put into effect his most powerful secret weapon. His puppy face had yet to fail on a member of the female species. Maybe if he did his puppy face long enough and looked pathetic enough Sam wouldn't make him go to the ball-thing with her…

His hopes were dashed as she grabbed a little black handbag and asked with an eyebrow raised dangerously, "Are you coming?"


	10. The Torture: Part Uno

Hello my lovies! I am back! My muse had run away on an extended vacation with Reno, but they have returned. Isn't that Wonderful? (Of course it is.) When I was writing this this chapter got really long, so i chopped it in half. the other part should be up within the next few days...

**The Torture: Part Uno**

"Step on my feet one more time and I will personally make sure you never need shoes again," Sam hissed threateningly under her breath at him as they entered the five-star restaurant that had been taken over for the President's party.

"Sooorrrrrrrryyy," Zack whined back.

He was trying very, very hard not to make a total fool of himself as he served as Sam's escort. His stomach was doing flips as he finally realized that he would be sitting at the same table as other 1st Class SOLDIERs. As they got closer to the table they were assigned to, he saw two men already seated with them.

One man was dressed in a plain black suit with his dark hair brushed away from his face with the exception of two bangs that hung over his temples. Dark stubble shaded his chin. He had bright cobalt eyes and very strong features that just screamed "Masculine!" There was something just cool about him.

The man was talking to the other man at the table. This one had lighter brunette hair that almost looked red layered about chin-length. Unlike his friend he wore a long, red-leather trench coat and dark leather pants (_What was it with SOLDIERs and leather, really?_ Zack wondered to himself). In one hand he held a copy of what looked like LOVELESS, and in the other hand he held a glass of wine. Both men appeared to be in their early to mid-twenties.

Sam sat down confidently in her chair as soon as they reached the table in a position that showed off her shapely calves without bothering to say anything. The two men, however, greeted her with a nod and the one in red remarked, "_At last, Dear Friend; Together once more_."

"Hey guys," Sam responded, brushing one of her loose bangs to the side. "Sephy-rock still not here yet?"

The first man shock his head and turned his attention onto Zack. "And this is your student, correct?" Zack had to fight the surprisingly strong urge to squeal like a thirteen-year-old girl as the older and clearly more experienced man observed him. Weird. Normally he would have asked what his problem was. Something was definitely different about this guy.

"This is Zack," Sam answered before Zack even opened his mouth. "You can sit down, you know," she addressed him. Zack flushed and took the seat beside her. "He's my new pet…uh, I mean student. Yeah. Student. That's it."

"Heya," Zack smiled, gaining a chuckle from the sterner one and a little smirk from the other.

"Zack, these two loons are Commander Angeal Hewley and Commander Genesis Rhapsodos," Sam motioned to each man in turn.

"Glad to meet ya," Zack smiled brightly.

"That Turk was looking for you again," Genesis told Sam absently as he turned a page in his book.

She blinked and tried to appear as unaffected as possible. "Really?" she asked casually, an eyebrow raised. Angeal pulled from his jacket an envelope with "Sam" scrawled quickly across it and handed it to her. For some reason the hand writing looked familiar to Zack… Sam opened it and read the note inside swiftly before smirking softly. "Goof," she announced, tucking the note into her handbag. "As is I'd be seen with him."

"So, Angeal, when are you ever going to get yourself a pet-grunt," Sam asked, thus changing the subject.

Angeal's own eyebrow rose. "When I find one who I am certain will make it to 1st Class."

"One day, you'll be sorry you didn't," Sam mocked. At that point Zack zoned out of the conversation and let his mind wonder.

Out of nowhere a hand came down on Zack's shoulder, startling him from his absent state of mind. "Should I be jealous, Sam?" a slightly cynical voice asked. Zack froze at the slightly dangerous edge to the man's voice. Wait…he knew that voice… Oh Shiva!

"Yes. Genesis's whole, 'I'm-a-dark-moody-and-poetic-piece-of-man-candy' routine has gotten through to my heart. We are now going to ride off into the sunset on a golden chocobo and make lots of little SOLDIER 1st Classes," Sam answered in a tone that could almost be called pleasant if she wasn't such a bitch.

"Oh, that's fine then, yo. I'm gonna go run off with the first piece of ass I get my hands on then," the man answered. The dangerous edge was gone, and Zack looked up nervously to see a familiar face leering down at him. Reno's blue eyes narrowed as he stared Zack down, and the glare was intensified by the scar-like markings by his eyes. The hand on his shoulder tightened ever so slightly.

"Then I suggest you sleep with one eye open," Sam advised solemnly. "Sams are not known for their ability to share. One could almost say they're known for the amazing ability to not-share."

"Fortunately I know how to appease a Sam," he answered playfully.

"Oh, really?" Sam asked, the eyebrow once again raised.

"Really," he answered. "Sams have but one weakness…" he started, a smirk on his face. "Chocolate." Out of nowhere Reno pulled a red rectangular box from behind his back and presented it to her with a flourish.

Sam took the box and said flatly, "I'm not sleeping with you. Ever."

"Can't blame a guy for tryin', yo," he shrugged with a wink before walking off into the crowd of people milling about trying to look important.

As soon as he disappeared Sam ripped open the box and her eyes widened as she gaped. "It's from Midel," she whisper-shouted excitedly.

Zack's eyes widened. Midelian chocolate was not easy to come by. Did he mention it was expensive? Oh so very expensive…like more money than he was probably was going to ever see in a year expensive. "Whoa," he remarked. Sam's eyes were wide and her pupils huge as she nodded her agreement to his remark.

Genesis leaned across the table and said fake secretly to Zack, "That Turk has been flirting with her since she made 1st Class two years ago. She's in denial of her attraction."

"Shut up! I so am not!" Sam denied loudly and vociferously. "You just are so obsessed with your stupid romance stories that you see love where clearly there is only violent dislike."

"If you say-so," Genesis responded sing-song before going back to his book.

"You're damn right I say so. By the way, no chocolate for you," she hmphed before popping one of the pieces of fine dark chocolate filled with some kind of fluff with brandy and crème. Her expression turned orgasmic and she moaned, lapping at the traces of chocolate left on her fingertips like a cat laps at milk.

Angeal chuckled softly at Sam's antics. For once he almost hoped that Sephiroth wouldn't try to kill Reno over this "indiscretion." Almost, but not quite. His own desire to disembowel the Turk over his constant harassment of Sam was too strong to stop Sephiroth. He really had to have a long discussion with Genesis about encouraging the Turk.


	11. The Torture: Part Dos

Hello again! I finally finished typing it up (it's been a long week). Here you all go!

**The Torture: Part Dos**

Clapping broke our around the room and Zack turned to see the unforgettable profile and long silver hair of Sephiroth. He, like Genesis, wore his typical black trench coat. His bright green eyes were focused in the direction of their table as he slipped through the crowd.

"Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence," Sam said with a devious smile in her eyes.

Sephiroth quieted her with a soft glare. His eyes settled on Zack as he said, "I take it this is your pet project."

"Yeppers," Sam answered brightly while Zack looked annoyed at her. Did she half to embarrass him in front of the greatest SOLDIER ever?

"He's in my seat," Sephiroth commented flatly.

Zack's eyes widened as he scrambled to relinquish his seat to the general. Angeal and Genesis chuckled lightly as Sam giggled as Zack actually fell out of the chair. "Not funny," Zack mumbled as he got back up to his feet, his cheeks betraying him with a pink blush.

"Whoa," Sam said with pure amazement. "You just make the Sephy-rock smile."

Zack's head turned to see Sephiroth take the empty chair next to Genesis, a sort of half-smile on his face.

"Well done, kid," Angeal praised.

"Uh, thanks," Zack said, taking his seat again.

"So how's the paperwork, Sephy-rock?" Sam smirked.

"Tiresome. I almost cannot wait to be deployed to Wutai," Sephiroth answered, grapping a slice of the bread loaf before him and buttering it. "How is your assignment?"

Before Sam could answer, several servers came over and placed a covered plate infront of everyone at the table. The servers removed the covers to reveal salads made of dark greens, finely diced vegetables, and colorful add ins. In the center of the table a server set a beautifully decorated bowl of some kind of glaze-like dressing.

"I just love how they all assume we're all vegetarians," Sam muttered darkly while glaring at Genesis. He just smirked lightly at her and poured some of the dressing over his salad.

"Anyway," Sam started, going back to her conversation with Sephiroth, "I can't complain about it right now. He's less dumb than he looks. We made it past stage three. Only took a week, but hey," she finished with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Not every trainee can be like you," Sephiroth said, accepting the dressing from Genesis.

"And if they were we would have reason to worry," Angeal added after his long period of silence.

Sam stuck her tongue out at him before taking a sip of her drink. She made a sour face before saying, "Bleh! Cider!" Her expression turned innocent before asking politely, "Genny, could you please order me some wine?"

Before Genesis could answer (and it was clear he was about to say "yes,"), Angeal asked calmly "How old are you, Sam?"

"Sixteen."

Sixteen? Zack had her pegged at fifteen.

"And what is the drinking age?" Angeal continued.

Sam glowered darkly at the glass in Genesis's hand. "You'd think since I'm old enough to chop people in half I'd be old enough to have some alcohol."

"You have no tolerance," Sephiroth countered.

"Well if you'd let me have a glass once in while I'd have a tolerance," Sam argued.

"No," Sephiroth continued in a tone that said end of discussion. His bright jade eyes fell on the box of chocolates next to Sam. "Who gave you that?"

"Not important. Don't change the subject. Why can't I have some wine?" Sam asked stubbornly.

Sephiroth glared hard at her. "Answer my question." Man, he wasn't even glaring at Zack, but Zack still had the urge to run away for cover.

"A guy. Geeze! Why do you always throw a hissy fit when people give me stuff?"

"A certain Turk," Genesis corrected, giving Sephiroth a significant look.

Sephiroth's nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "You will not have a single drop of alcohol as long as that miscreant is prowling about!" he snarled sternly. Zack was definitely getting the impression of a "big brother—little-sister" relationship between Sam and Sephiroth.

Sam rolled her eyes and sulked. "Like I'd let that creep near me," she muttered petulantly as she crossed her arms infront of her.

"SAM!"

All five of their heads snapped in the direction of the shout.

"Oh my god! Anne! I thought you were working tonight!" Sam screamed excitedly, thus causing Zack's eardrums to ring. Before Zack knew what was happening, a squealing Sam had leaped out of her seat so fast that the chair fell to the floor.

Sam and her best friend were hugging each other with broad smiles. Sam was bouncing excitedly while Anne seemed to be calm and at least sane.

"What _are_ you doing here anyway?" Sam asked with her head cocked to the side.

"Hojo through everyone out of the lab. For once I was included."

"About damn time. Come on: there's an empty seat at my table. You're sitting with us. No excuses. You have no free will on this," Sam commanded as she dragged the much taller woman over the their table.

Angeal and Genesis watched non-pulsed by Sam's actions, but Sephiroth seemed to Zack to be a little curious, but it was hard to tell since the guy just didn't do facial expressions. At all.

"By the way, you totally missed it. Sephiroth through another hissy fit," Sam smirked.

"I did no such thing."

"You did. He totally did. Genesis, tell Anne he totally through a fit."

"He did," the auburn haired SOLDIER confirmed.

"I rest my case."

Anne smiled lightly. "What about?"

"Oh, he's hissy cause there's a guy—who despite being an idiot—recognizes my status as a woman," Sam remarked flippantly. Zack was astounded that she dared to say that infront of the Sephiroth.

"Reno is only interested in sex," Sephiroth glared.

Sam slammed her fist down on the table top. "Why do you always do that?" she demanded, not caring about all the attention that was focused on their table. "You know what, I can't do this right now. Zack, we're leaving."

"What—"

Before Zack could finish his question, Sam had already stormed off. Sephiroth was still glaring. Angeal sighed heavily and grabbed Genesis's glass of wine and downed it in one swallow. Genesis never even looked away from his book. Anne, however, had gotten up and ran after her friend.

Zack just knew that tomorrow would not be pleasant for him.


	12. The Day After

The Note at the Bottom of the Page is quite Important, so BE SURE to READ IT.

Anyway, I finally had time to write again (yeah!). This nasty thing called life got in the way. I was going to wait until Saturday to post in honor of Valentine's day, but then i realised that would be mean of me. I give this to you two days early then.

**The Day After**

Zack dreaded every step he took to the gym. Last night Sam had spent twenty minutes screaming about how unfair Sephiroth was while kicking and punching a punching bag specially designed to withstand blows equal in force to a freight train at full speed. All that remained of the punching bag in question was a few scraps of cloth and the container of sand some lucky fan somewhere would soon get courtesy of a janitor and the black market.

Having seen the destruction Sam was capable of, he was more than a little afraid to be stuck in a room with her…especially if she was still upset.

It was weird…well, Sam was always complaining about something, but it wasn't the normal way she did it. And her eyes were glowing. Her eyes _did_ glow normally since she was a SOLDIER, but they never glowed neon green before. They were brighter than even Sephiroth's! It was more than a little scary.

Cautiously he entered the gym, and was immediately assaulted by…

Complete silence. No one was there at all.

"Uh?" he vocalled, confused.

"Out of my way," a nasally voice sneered from behind him almost angrily.

Zack was certain he jumped a foot in the air. Immediately he turned around to see a slightly hunched man with long greasy hair pulled into a low ponytail. The glasses the man wore reflected light ominously. He wore his lab coat like it was a royal's robe. The only word to describe this guy was "creepy."

The dark and beady eyes narrowed. "So you're the trainee Specimen S.A.M. has taken on," he declared flatly.

_Specimen S.A.M.?_ Zack wondered.

"When she arrives you are to convey to her that she is to report directly to the Science Department."

Without saying "goodbye" or "I'm sorry for almost giving you a heart attack," the creepy man turned away and slinked down the hallway leading away from the gym silently, but very quickly.

"Specimen S.A.M.?" Zack whispered aloud. "Does he mean Sam?" Something was bothering Zack, like there was something important right infront of his face and he just wasn't seeing it. What was "Sam" short for anyway? He had never bothered to ask.

Well, that guy could only be Dr. Creepy himself—Hojo. Sam had warned Zack about him, and Zack had no desire to see if any of the things she told him were true. He was better off not knowing.

If Sam came and caught him standing around doing nothing, she would flip out royally. No sense wasting time.

While Zack started his workout, Sam was frantically trying to get in contact with Anne.

"Pick up. Come on. Pick up," she chanted as she paced back and forth through her living room, past the display on the wall where her gunblade and other assorted arms rested. "Damn it!" she snarled as Anne's voicemail answered yet again. "Why does she even have a phone?!"

Before Sam could continue with her rant, the entirety of her right arm twitched wildly. She groaned at the pain from loosing control of her nervous system. This was the reason for her panic. Her fingers had gone numb, and all of the veins in her hand and arm visible through her skin were an angry green rather than the slight blue. Not only had she lost her sense of touch in her right hand and lose of control, but she was suffering from trembles all over her body. The first thing she had done that morning was to vomit spectacularly just short of the toilet. She had _never_ been so sick she throw up before, and if she had, it was too long ago for her to remember.

"Oh, Shiva," she groaned as her stomach cramped up again. "What's wrong with me?" she mumbled faintly before her eyes rolled backward and she fell in a dead faint to the floor.

Around 9.30, over five hours since Zack began his routine, he started to get a little worried. Sam had never been this late before, and she had always called and at least informed him when she would be late.

He had spent the last three hours doing an intensive program on the tread runner (he was now certain he could out-run anything short of an actual SOLDIER). However, he needed Sam in order to spar, and she wasn't there.

The door opened again, and instead of Sam who he expected to walk in, in came one of the men he meet last night—Angeal. He was in a 1st Class uniform and had two swords with him. One looked like the standard Shinra-issue assault sword, but why would he need that when he had a sword that looked like it weighed more than Sam sheathed across his back?

Quickly, he snapped to attention and saluted the senior officer.

"Cadet Fair," he remarked, slightly surprised. "What are you doing here?"He paused, "And call me Angeal."

Zack perked up. "Sam and I train here. She's late."

Angeal blinked and looked alarmed. "Sam's late?" he echoed. "How late?" he demanded.

"She's usually here at like four every morning."

"Something's wrong," he said softly. "Come on," he ordered Zack as he turned out of the gym and sprinted to the elevator. Zack had to scramble to catch up with him. For someone with a huge-freaking sword on their back, Angeal could move very quickly.

"Where are we—"

"To Sam's apartment," Angeal answered as he pressed the call button. Another dark feeling was growing in Zack's gut. He got those kind of feelings a lot lately. He stood panting, trying to catch his breath as they waited for the elevator to get to their floor.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the elevator arrived and opened with an obnoxious ding—Zack always hated that sound.

Much to each's shock, the elevator was already occupied. Leaning against the far wall was none other than Reno, whose appearance was even more shocking than his presence. He was wearing a dark blue suit (in fact, if Zack didn't know any better, he'd say it was the same suit Reno wore last night to the banquet…but he hadn't thought much of it at the time), but it was even more rumbled. Most of the buttons to his shirt were undone and it was untucked. His jacket hung open. His hair was messier, and he had a dark pair of sunglasses hiding his eyes. Reno's shoulder's were tense, and Zack could feel his glare. Zack would believe that Reno was quite hung-over…if it wasn't for the splatter of blood across his shirt and face. Angeal, however, didn't seem too surprised.

"Ya gonna stand there and gawk all damn day, yo?" Reno smirked.

"What happened to you?" Zack asked before he could stop himself.

Reno grinned wider, shoeing off his teeth, He looked sly, like a fox, and dangerous. That smile made Kunsel's warning echo in Zack's mind. _You see one of them coming, you turn and go the other way._

"Good choice, yo," Reno remarked. "So where you two off to?"

Angeal didn't answer as he entered the elevator. He mashed the button to the floor Sam's apartment was located on as Zack entered as well. Once the doors closed, Angeal turned to the Turk and said softly. "Something is wrong with Sam."

Reno's jaw tightened. "Hojo gettin' pushy?"

"No. No one's seen her since last night. Something's wrong."

"Hojo was looking for Sam earlier," Zack added, correcting Angeal's information. The man looked unhappy at the news.

"Need some havoc?" Reno asked as though this was a normal, every-day sort of question.

"I don't know yet," Angeal answered. He had his PHS out and was sending someone a message. Zack felt awkward, like he was almost in the way. Reno cursed softly under his breath and ran his hand through his chaotic bangs. His foot rapped on the metal floor of the elevator rapidly.

Zack could only hope that whatever it was worrying the two wasn't as bad as the two men thought it was.

**I feel this story needs a new title that better expresses what it is. Unfortunately, I have been too busy to think of one. This is where all you lovely readers come in.**

**Submit a title in a review, and it could become the title of this little project. Help me out here. Please. I beg you. (bribes with copies of the super-secret underware SOLDIER-edition calender.)**


	13. Medical Emergency

Hello. It's been some time. There was this little thing called life that got in the way, plus I've been puking my guts out lately...obviously writing got put on the back burner. I had a different version of this chapter written, but it didn't work. This isn't my favorite chapter, but I think I've had worse.

BTW, I still have copies of that SOLDIER-in-Their-Underware Calender up for grabs...

**Medical Emergency**

Sephiroth's day started out like any other.

He woke up, went for a five mile run, got washed up, and went to his office to deal with the mountain of unimportant paperwork that required his signature. His secretary had gotten him his usual coffee—extra black with three French-vanilla creamers and two sugars. The 8 a.m. meeting with Director Lazard had gone off swimmingly. Everything was completely normal.

Then he received a message around 9 from one of his best friends—Angeal.

Code Minerva. Going to the Arms Shop. ASAP.

"Code Minerva", as titled by Genesis, meant only one thing—Sam was in trouble (again). "Going to the Arms Shop" meant get to Sam's Apartment. ASAP was pretty self explanatory.

Upon receiving the message, Sephiroth immediately dropped the pen he had been signing papers with, rushed out of his office (startling his secretary and prompting her to scream, "Where's the fire?"), and rushed to the elevator that would take him to the floor Sam's apartment was on. Sephiroth felt fear. Along with the fear came worry. Fear and worry were two emotions he wasn't accustomed to feeling. But after all, he was only human, and he cared about Sam. He loved her like a sister!

Shockingly, the other elevator opened at the same time as Sephiroth's did. Genesis dashed out of it like a bat out of hell. In unison they raced down the hallway to Sam's apartment, no words spoken.

The door to her apartment had been forced open—probably by Angeal. There was a fury of movement and sound coming from within, and the stench of mako and blood assaulted their superior senses. Both scents were alarming, however the blood smelled like it was hours old, and there was only traces of the irony-copper smelling substance on the air. They hurried through the door and into Sam's living room to see Reno kneeling by Sam's head. The redhead pinched shut Sam's nose as he sealed his lips over hers. Sephiroth was livid until he realized the Angeal was pressing rhythmically downward over Sam's heart each time Reno pulled back. They were performing CPR…which was something someone generally only did to someone else whose heart had stopped…

"Where's those damn medics?" Angeal called to an anxious, pacing Zack.

"I don't know man!" the SOLDIER in training answered.

"Hey! Hey! I got pulse!" Reno shouted victoriously as his head snapped up. Along with the sluggish pulse he felt in her neck, he had felt the faintest tickle of an exhalation against his cheek. Now that he had looked up, Sephiroth and Genesis could see his face. They recognized the fine splatter of dried blood across his front and face as being from a high-velocity spray, probably the result of a gun shot. Sam was not the source of that blood. If she had been, the smell would have been much more powerful. The smell of mako however…

"Oh, thank Shiva," Angeal muttered at Reno's words.

Sam's eyelashes fluttered and she gave a little groan. Her eyes slowly blinked open, but stay glazed. All she could see above her was a blur of bright red before her stomach demanded attention. To the shock of everyone, the mostly comatose SOLDIER rolled over just in time for the contents of her stomach to reappear.

"Ugh! What IS that?" Zack called as he watched in disgust as a green goo was expelled from Sam's mouth.

Reno was quick enough to hold back her hair before Sam started throwing up. "That's mako, yo," he answered.

Angeal shoved Zack back and away from the pile of sick Sam had brought up. Sephiroth and Genesis (finally recovered enough from their shock to move) barged in and helped Reno keep Sam from choking on the mako or falling into it.

"Mako? Like the stuff power's made from?" Zack demanded.

"What do you think they pump into SOLDIERs?" Angeal demanded.

Finally, though too late to be of any real help, the medics arrived. They came barging through the door with a stretcher and their bag of emergency medical tools before taking charge of the situation. With in three minutes, despite protest, Sam was strapped to the stretcher and on her way to the infirmary, leaving behind five overly worried and confused guys behind.


	14. Headstrong

Heyya!!! I am back, and finally recovered from a nasty case of the stomach flu. And I can eat solid foods again!!! Yhea! This is great because it is my birthday on March 22. Here's my present to you in honor of the occasion.

**Headstrong**

"Would you chillax already? I'm fine."

"What part of mako-overdose do you not understand?" Angeal asked exasperated.

"The part where you're freaking out."

"You had an overdose," Sephiroth answered flatly.

"Geeze! Ten fingers, ten toes. I'm fine!" the headstrong and temperamental SOLDIER shouted. "Take a chill pill or something. I'm sure there's some kind of drug lying around here powerful enough to make you relax. And if not, talk to Turky-boy. He'll hook you up with something."

"Reno is not part of this discussion," both Angeal and Sephiroth growled out in unison. It was almost scaring just how much they did at the exact same moment without realizing it.

"Look, weren't you even paying attention to the doc's speech? He said I didn't have an overdose. That bite I got from that stupid Marlboro had some dormant bacteria or something that reacted with something else in my body…or whatever. So no overdose. Now let me out of this stupid bed!"

"But you got that bite months ago!" Zack called completely confused.

"What part of 'dormant' do you not get?"

"You died," Genesis hissed, completely cold. The look on his normally self-satisfied face was one of anger and worry. "You died," he repeated.

"Did not. Now that's just plain dramatic, even for you Gen-Gen," Sam laughed and tossed her hair.

"When Reno, Zack, and I found you, you were on the floor and you weren't breathing," Angeal gritted out. "We had to give you CPR."

Sam still didn't look like she believed him. "There's no way that happened. Like you'd ever let him near me."

"It's true," Zack added, his voice breaking a little. "Angeal broke down the door and you were on the floor. Reno and him went into like medic mode and started doing CPR and Reno told me to call a medic. Then Sephiroth and Genesis got there." His face fell again and he muttered, "I didn't know what to do."

"In what alternate reality did I wake up in? I'm a SOLDIER, dammit! SOLDIERs don't fall over dead!"

"And neither do seventeen year old girls just go into cardiac arrest, but you did," Sephiroth snarled. "You are staying in that bed until I have a satisfactory explanation of what happened and why."

"Well who's going to keep an eye on Zack, huh?" Sam demanded as a last resort. "Can't trust him alone ya' know. He might find his way into the Materia Room or something and break something expensive."

"I am going to," Angeal answered her challenge with a steady voice.

Zack's jaw dropped. This was the guy who claimed he wouldn't take on a trainee unless he was certain that trainee would make it to first class. This guy was taking him on as his trainee. This was epic.

Sam crossed her arms in front of her chest as she huffed—or tried to anyway. Her right arm was in a brace to keep her from moving it until the Medical Staff could determine whether or not she had suffered nerve damage since no one could be certain of exactly how long she had stopped breathing, or how long her heart had stopped for. Something else had happened too that the staff had no explanation for--her eyes had turned totally green. The pout on her face, despite her inability to move, was of extraordinary proportions.

"Fine," she grumbled. Even stubborn SOLDIER-girls knew when she was beat. Not even a puppy-face would be able to get her out of this one.

"Heyya. Heard you were awake, yo."

Zack jumped at the sound of Reno's voice. He hadn't seen the Turk enter the room, nor did he hear him. Reno had disappeared shortly after Sam was brought to the Medical Wing of the Science Department, and had apparently just gotten back from wherever it was he went.

The blood that had been splattered across his face was gone, as was the blood stained shirt. His goggle-like sunglasses were pushed up and kept back his wild bangs, but the glower on his face was plain to see.

"How the hell did you get in here?" Zack asked completely surprised.

Sephiroth wasn't surprised, and neither were Genesis or Angeal. When someone worked for Shinra for as long as the three of them had, Turks randomly showing up silently from the shadows or seemingly from the woodwork stopped being a surprise.

"What did Tseng say?"

"Who's Tseng?" Zack interjected, but was ignored.

"He don't know nothin'," Reno drawled. "I got my lackey hackin' files as we speak, yo."

"Oh great," Sam groaned.

"Hey, Rod ain't that bad!"

"I suppose I can forgive him; after all, he's suck with you, isn't he?" she mocked.

"Children!" Sephiroth snapped. "Play nicely." Even his legendary patience was reaching its end.

"Whatever," Sam rolled her eyes petulantly.

"Geeze. Remind me again why I saved your damn life, yo," Reno snapped. His eyes narrowed as he stared down the SOLDIER. Sam stared right back at him.

"What would you have to live for if you didn't have me to stalk?" she sneered. "Angeal, make him leave."

"Whatever, yo. I don't have to take this," the Turk growled before storming out of the room with an aura of complete and utter destruction about him. It made Zack shiver, and everyone he saw Reno walk past quickly moved out of the volatile redhead's path.

"That was childish," Angeal chided.

"Don't you have a newbie to train or something?" Sam snapped irritably. Ifrit! She had to be PMSing. There was no other explanation.

"When you feel like behaving like an adult again, you may give us a call," Sephiroth said in his typical controlled tones. He, Angeal, and Genesis all rose as one unit and started toward the doors to the medical wing. Zack nervously glanced at the fuming Sam before hurrying after the other SOLDIERs.

As soon as he exited the doors, he heard the soft voice of Anne Brown saying to the other men, "You'll have to forgive her. She doesn't realize what she's saying. The pain killers make her a little funny."

Little funny, he thought. That's an understatement.


	15. In Which Zack Recieves a Shock

Hello my good people. I return to you with yet another peice. Leave me a review and let me know what you think--good, bad, bon-fire worthy, I don't care.

Also, I now have a livejournal (clap, my minions, clap!). It is samkthegreat, so check me out.

More, there is a link to a picture of Sam on my profile. If you're interested anyway.

Warning: Reno's potty mouth

**In Which Zack Recieves a Shock**

Zack had to half-run to keep up with the unnaturally fast Reno. The Turk was practically foaming at the mouth as he cursed and ranted.

"Can you believe that shit, yo? I save her fuckin' life and she acts like I'm a freakin' rat!" the enraged redhead raved in a low snarl. "Shoulda let her fuckin' die!"

"Come on, Man, you don't mean that!" Zack tried to say as he caught up to him.

"Hell if I don't!" Reno growled back at him. His eyes were sharp, and all of his guards were back up in full force. Reno looked like a wild animal, or at least that's what he reminded Zack of. The tattoos—or were they scars?—by his eyes sharpened the anger and only served to make him seem more dangerous. He was just as frightening now as he was when he appeared in the elevator with a fine spray of blood over his face and clothes. Reno was still very upset about what Sam had said in the Medical Wing, and to be honest, Zack really couldn't blame him. Sam had hit a low blow. "I need a drink," he continued, turning away.

"So she's a bitch! Like that really surprises you!" Zack tried.

"Hey! Only I get to call her that!" the Turk growled. "This ain't worth my freakin' time," he said again as he turned away from Zack.

"You love her!" Zack called as a last resort, grabbing Reno's arm.

Before Zack could get a good grip on the Turk's arm, Reno had him locked in a half nelson and hissed into his ear, "That wasn't too smart, yo. I could break ya if I really wanted to, ya know. I could break ya so bad even the creeps in the Science Department couldn't fix ya."

Zack squirmed at the uncomfortable pressure being applied to his arm, chest, and neck, but waited for Reno to let him go. The threats were just that—threats. If he had wanted to do those things, then Reno already would have. The redhead had beaten him once before, and Zack new he wasn't ready to try for a rematch yet. "You know I'm right. You love her," he repeated.

Reno snorted before releasing Zack. "I love her like I need a hole in the head," he snapped. Before Zack knew what Reno was doing, the lanky and older teen had pulled Zack into an angry kiss, which he returned before he realized what was happening. The Turk bit down on Zack's lower lip in a violent show of domination, demanding entrance, which Zack gave out of pure shock.

The kiss, if it could be called that, was over almost as soon as it started, and Reno hurried off in a stalk before disappearing around a corner.

Zack was shocked still as he tried to figure out what just happened and why it happened.

Well, he certainly hadn't expected that.

"Reno!" he called as he started running after him again. The Turk was fast, but even he had to wait for elevators. Zack caught up to the Turk in about thirty seconds and immediately demanded, "What was that?"

The grin on Reno's fox-like face turned cruel. "What 'cha think it was?"

"Why did you…" Zack trailed off. He had just realized that there were other people on the floor, and he and Reno were attracting a lot of attention. A secretary was watching them closely over her glasses, as were several businessmen loitering in the hallway.

"'Cause I don't need her," Reno answered, looking bored. "She wants nothin' to do with me, then fine. All power to her. Hope she's happy, yo. I'm done. Hojo can funkin' have her. See if I care."

Zack felt his confusion grow. What did Reno mean by that?"

"What—"

"Oops, that's classified, yo. Hack your own damn files," Reno interrupted. "And you can tell Sephiroth I said that!" he remarked before turning toward the direction of the stair well, leaving Zack alone and confused even more than before.


	16. Trainingwith Angeal

I'm back! It's only been at least a month, but I'm finally back! Life once again has ruined my fun! But now my finals are finished, school is out, and i have all summer to write...yhea. Anyway, here is my next humble offering. Reno will appear again in the next chapter, have no fear. I hope I didn't scare too many people off with the Zack/Reno kiss last chapter...I just think they're so cute together. Read on, if you are still with me!

**Training...with Angeal**

The sword felt weird in his hands. It had been weeks since he had gotten to hold one, let alone use one! It was great, but awkward as hell.

Zack grinned as he sliced through another enemy—a weird mutant dog-type thing that had a tentacle growing from behind its head. Angeal had let him loose in that VR Program Sam had used to sick the Marlboro on him, but unlike Sam, Angeal set it to a mission Zack could handle at his level. And unlike Sam, Angeal was actually in the program with Zack and using it to teach him different techniques.

"Block," Angeal commanded from the sidelines of the battle. He had warned Zack he would only get involved if he had to. Zack was fine with that. He wanted to prove to the older wiser (and clearly more sane than Sam) SOLDIER that he could handle this.

Zack did as commanded and only narrowly avoided a stinging tentacle from connecting with his arm.

"You have materia, use it!" Angeal reminded.

"Oh yeah!" Zack truthfully had forgotten all about the little balls of crystallized mako Angeal had given him to equip. He cast fire on one of the charging monsters. The thing fell back with a yelp as all the hair on the front half of its body set on fire from the spell. "Gotcha," Zack smirked.

The rest of the mob was just as easy for him to beat.

"All right! Did you see that?" Zack called as he turned to Angeal.

"Don't get cocky, Zack. You're not finished yet."

"What are you talking about?"

Zack's only answer was a cryptic smile. He soon found out what Angeal meant when he heard three gunshots right in a row and just barely managed to dodge and block the shots.

In the darkness of the cave the VR program had dumped them into about thirty feet away was a shadowy figure with a gun almost the same size as the training sword Zack was using. The figure took a few steps forward and Zack gasped as it stepped into the dim light.

"Sam? What are you doing here?" he called. As far as he knew she hadn't gotten clearance to leave the infirmary yet.

Sam glared at him and raised her gun again. She did so effortlessly despite the injury to her arm. There was an ominous click as the she cocked the gigantic gun and tossed her hair before settling into an offensive posture. "Come and get it," she answered.

"What?" Zack demanded, his grip on his sword slack.

He really should have known better. Sam didn't wait for him to get control of his sword; she just attacked. With a grunt, she dashed forward and slashed at him with the razor-sharp barrel of the gun. "Whoa!" Zack shouted, just barely dodging. He was shocked that she would use the gun like that, though it did have an edge to the barrel that would make a good slicing and hacking weapon. The massiveness of the gun itself made it a practical bludgeon. It gave her the advantage of being able to perform long-range attacks that Zack couldn't with only a sword.

Unfortunately for Zack he lost his footing as he dodged another slashing attack from Sam. She just barely managed to maintain her balance as the momentum continued pulling her forward. Zack, unfortunately missed seeing her almost stumble, thus missing an opening.

"Get up," she ordered as soon as her footing was sure. He only just managed to roll up his shoulder when a bullet plowed into the ground he had been laying on only half a second before. "You're in my house now little boy."

This time Zack immediately raised his sword and blocked her next attack. He tried to counter attack, but she was too good and had jumped back out of the range of his sword. Taking advantage of the little bit of distance between them, Zack cast fire again.

The spell plowed into Sam's chest, but she didn't seem effected in the slightest. She smirked as the magic dissipated and flashed her gauntlet toward Zack where one of the glowing balls of materia glowed brighter than the others as it absorbed the attack. "Try again," she remarked before casting her own spell—Dark Fire.

Zack's eyes widened as the dark swirling mass of flames came shooting at him. He raised his sword to block the spell and braced himself, but Sam's magic was too powerful for blocking the spell to be effective. She was, after all, a SOLDIER 1st Class, and he was only in training.

The fire burned him painfully, but it was the other effects the spell had that really hurt. The dark magic froze Zack in place while a vicious poison infected his system. Sam smirked victoriously—gloating—and tossed her hair.

Angeal sighed and retrieved a remedy from his pocket before tossing it at Zack, completely healing all of the younger's injuries and status abnormalities. "Hint: next time don't use fire-based materia on her," he advised. "It won't work and she _will_ retaliate." Zack gave him a look that said, "why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

While Zack tossed that look to his new mentor, Sam wasted no time. She sprinted at Zack with her gun raised like someone would hold a sword while running, not a gun.

Angeal commanded sharply, "Roll!"

"Huh?" Zack asked in total confusion before he heard Sam grunt as she leapt up into the air higher then he thought anyone ever possibly could and came back to the earth with the sharp edged barrel pointed down. Zack just barely managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid having that gun ran through him rather than buried half-way to the stalk in the ground.

There was no way that thing was merely a gun. Zack had heard of gunblades before, but he was under the impression that they didn't actually fire anything! Sam's weapon had to be a specially designed one, just for her.

Zack got back to his feet with a flip. He turned to see Sam struggle to pull her gun from the ground. She grunted as her muscles strained. She was left wide open with no defense. Zack grinned before charging and the adrenaline was really starting to flow.

At the last moment Sam rolled to the side and kicked out, catching his leg and tripping him. He went stumbling to the ground again and his sword went flying.

Zack stayed dazed for a second. Then he felt the cold, sharp edge of a sword rest against the side of his neck. Sam had retrieved _his_ sword and was now using it to end their match.

"Ups-a-daisy," she ordered. The sword went away and she planted in the ground.

Zack, once again, go back up. _I'm really getting tired of this,_ he thought. He knew he had to get his sword back, and the plan to do so was already forming. Praying to whatever forces that were listening, he casted another spell—"Stop!" Before he knew if the spell even worked, he rolled forward to his sword and grabbed the hilt as he got back up.

Surprisingly, the spell worked.

Sam was completely still. She didn't even breath. Zack sighed a breath of relief. It didn't last long though. His materia wasn't very powerful, so the spell didn't hold Sam for long. In slow motion Sam leaned forward into an offensive position before she realized Zack wasn't infront of her.

"Hey!" Zack called as he attacked, celebrating the fact that he had the upper hand. That would last about as long as the spell had. He made the mistake of trying to charge her down.

Once again Sam kicked and her heavily booted foot lashed out and smashed into Zack's kneecap. White hot agony sheared through him as he was brought down yet again without a chance of getting back up, nor could he stop the scream from getting past his lips. He instinctively clutched his lower leg as he writhed in pain.

Angeal tensed as Sam took down his student. Honestly he hadn't expected him to last even this long, but Zack was beat now.

Sam slammed her foot into the middle of his back, right into the spot she had smashed her elbow into during the first fight Zack was stupid enough to except. This time her foot won and his spine gave in. all feeling left the lower half of his body but the area slightly above his latest injury screamed, and so did Zack.

Not giving Zack a chance to activate the last materia he had—a cure--, Sam stepped down on his trachea and applied more and more pressure to slowly choke him out. Struggling, Zack clawed at her foot in a desperate attempt to get air. It was a battle he was not destined to win. It didn't take Zack long to slip from consciousness.

Once Zack slipped from consciousness, Sam stepped back and regarded Angeal with black eyes.

Angeal sighed and muttered, "What am I going to do with you?" as he fished for the Phoenix Down in his pocket. "Did you have to destroy him?" he asked rhetorically in Sam's direction as he tossed the feather onto Zack's body. Immediately his wounds began healing and within a minute Zack was groaning as he got back up to his feet.

"What just happened?" he moaned as he stood slightly unbalanced and disoriented.

"You lost," Angeal answered flatly. "What was your first mistake?"

Zack looked honestly flabbergasting. "What are you talking about? I lost? No way!"

"Yes. Now what was your first mistake?" Angeal repeated calmly as he next fetched his PHS from his pocket. Flipping it open, he selected "Abort Mission" from the menu. Flashing across the screen to the VR Helmets each was equipped with was now "ABORT." The cave they were in dissolved in a scattering of pixels.

"She was just too good! She's like a super-chick!" Zack called back, waving a hand at the oddly still completely still Sam and was shocked to see that she was fuzzy, almost like a bad radio-signal, and seemed to be only two-dimensional. He hadn't really been fighting her…just a computer program. Somehow, Zack felt cheated.

"No, Zack. She has weaknesses just like everybody else. For example, she's weak to attacks with ice-based materia. Also, you tired to fight by her rules. Had you forced her to fight in close range rather than relying on magic and distance-based attacks, you could have stood a chance. There's a reason Sam fights with a gun and not standard-issue swords. Your first mistake you made before the fight even began. You assumed Sam would not attack you, even though everything you know about Sam suggests that she would if you irritated her enough. Did I miss anything, Zack?" Angeal lectured.

"No," Zack conceded, feeling suddenly very small.

Angeal regarded Zack silently for a moment. "Why are you here Zack?"

"Huh?" Zack asked, surprised by the question.

"Why do you want to be in SOLDIER?" Angeal simplified.

"I want to be a hero," Zack answered honestly and with more than a little prided.

"Then follow your dreams," Angeal advised. "Never forget that, Zack."

Zack looked at him odd, but nodded anyway. Despite the fact that he hadn't finished the mission, Zack got the distinct impression that what Angeal had just told him was more important anyway.

"You did well," Angeal commented. "I honestly thought you would lose sooner. This doesn't mean we don't have a lot to work on. There's much room for improvement." And just like that Angeal had managed to suck the fun out of the VR room.

Still…there was something kind of cool about him...


	17. Reno's new competition

I'm back after about six months of no updates! I do appoligize to anyone still reading this. I got my head into other projects that just wouldn't let me go, but I eventually returned!

**Reno's new competition**

"It's about time somebody visited me!" Sam admonished before she even knew who opened the door.

Zack poked his head in to see Sam propped against a small mountain of pillows with her arm still held immobile against her chest by a brace. She looked completely and utterly bored.

"Oh. It's just you," she muttered moodily.

Zack pouted. "Don't you want to see me?" he whined. "Fine. I guess I just go then."

"NO! Sit," Sam commanded, a little desperate for the attention and company. "Do you know how long it's been since I've had a conversation that doesn't involve really big Latin-ish words I can't pronounce? Too long! It's so boring! Seriously! All the doctors want to know about is my arm!"

"Sounds horrible," Zack agreed as he took a seat in the uncomfortable hospital chair beside her bed. He had came to the conclusion that it was easier to go along with her, that way there was less screaming and death threats.

"It is!" Sam continued without losing stride. "Anyway…how's training with Mama Bear?"

"Mama Bear?" he repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"Angeal," Sam offered as explanation in the insufferable, "all-knowing" tone she liked to use.

"Oh. It's great! It really is. He's so cool!" he gushed. "He took me back to that VR room and let me cut loose in one of the simulators. Then you sort of showed up and kicked my ass…but it still took you like really long to beat me!"

"Uh-ha. You don't say," Sam commented. "That program wouldn't have happened to contain a bunch of experiment gaurdhounds, would it?" Her tone sounded conversational, but her narrowed eyes showed she was out for blood.

"Yeeeesss," Zack drew out, suddenly nervous.

"I thought so. That program is out of date by at least a year and a half. It doesn't have any of my current stats," she remarked smugly, sufficiently bursting Zack's happy bubble.

"Angeal said I did really well!"

"Did he also say you still have a lot to work on and give you a big speech on honor, discipline, and following your dreams, etc, etc?" Sam asked.

"Yea! How did you know?" Zack asked, his thunder completely gone.

"Do you really think you're the only one Angeal's trained? I was his first student and the only other one, ya' know," she smirked. "I miss sparring with him. We haven't had time for a good workout lately, and then…well, this happened," Sam added, gesturing to her arm. She sighed again.

As Sam pouted, there was another knock at the door. It opened and a male approximately in his early to mid twenties with slightly tasseled black hair and bright green eyes appeared. "Excuse me, but is this SOLDIER 1st Class Sam's room?"

"Um…do I know you?" Sam asked. "And yea. First Class. That's me."

The guy looked relieved and entered the room. He was dressed in grey slacks and a baby-blue button down. Sam, being the vain and occasionally shallow person who noticed trivial things like clothes, took note of the undone buttons and black under-shirt the man was wearing. Over his arm he had slung a white lab coat.

"I'm sorry to barge in on you, but I was hoping to discuss your condition. I'm working on a thesis involving long-term exposure to Mako, and—"

"And you are?" Sam asked impatiently. The guy was cute…but he was a labby.

For some reason this guy made Zack a little nervous.

"Oh! My apologies! I'm Russell, Russell Meyers. I'm working under Doctor Hollander on an internship, and when I heard what happened….well, I was hoping you'd be willing to take part in my study." Russell was very excitable, apparently, and a little goofy. But…he was still cute…but he was_ still_ a labby.

"Sure," Sam smiled dazzlingly, ignoring her normal repulsion to anything remotely involving needles and beakers. "Any time." Sometimes sacrifices had to be made in the name of science…and in the name of flirting with cute guys. Besides, it would be selfish of her not to tribute to the great quest that was science.

Russell could barely keep his excitement contained and just managed to restrain himself from doing a victory air-punch. "Thanks!" he smiled brightly before he noticed Zack. "Oh…um, I can come back later if—"

"Don't worry about him. He was just leaving anyway. Go on. Run along, Zack," Sam commanded in a tone that suggested teasing, but Zack heard the threat in it as clear as if she said, "Go away or I will hurt you badly."

"Okay," he mumbled before hopping up and heading towards the door. As he left and closed the door behind him, he could hear the sound of Sam's laughter and a lower chuckle from the strange male.

"Sure. Blow me off for that guy…" Zack mumbled as he walked down the hall. As he turned the corner, a hand reached out of a door he hadn't noticed was open and grabbed him by the front of his shirt before yanking him into the room. Zack let loose a shriek as he was caught by surprise. A hand snapped over his mouth and he found himself on the receiving end of a glower from the resident crazy red-haired demon better known to the general population as Reno.

"I'm gonna let ya go. Think ya can keep quiet, yo?" Reno drawled.

Zack nodded to show he understood and hummed, "Mmm-hmm," from behind the other's hand. He was pink in the face—for two reasons. The first reason was the very un-mannly shriek he had let loose. The second reason was because the last time he had been this close to Reno was when the older teen had shoved his tongue down Zack's throat.

"Goood," Reno answered as he took a step back. He pulled the open door shut and regarded Zack predatorily. "Who's the guy?" he demanded.

"Huh?" Zack asked, confused.

"The guy in with my girl, yo!" Reno snapped with a growl. He took a step forward and had Zack pinned against the wall.

"I thought you were done with Sam," Zack commented, a little confused.

"I am. Stop askin' stupid questions!" Reno ordered sharply. "Now who is that guy?" he demanded again.

"I don't know!" Zack called slightly nervous. He could see Reno was getting pretty wound up and he didn't want to be around when the redhead lashed out.

"What is his name?" Reno barked. His eyes blazed as he growled millimeters from Zack's face.

"I don't know!" Zack answered again, desperately trying to remember what the guy said his name was. "Russell! Russell something!" he supplied, hoping that Reno would believe him. "He said something about some study who this Hollender person!"

"There. Was tha' really tha' hard?" Reno grinned before stepping back and winking at him. Unsure of how to react, Zack watched as  
Reno turned away and reopened the door before leaving.


End file.
